Eileen Hull

Three dimensional art... with heart

A Cut Above class

When I saw there was a die cutting class being offered by Jennifer McGuire, Nicole Magouirk, and Kristina Werner, I had to sign up. They are such amazing designers- I knew I would pick up lots of helpful tips and tricks. So far it has been fun and I’m trying to keep up (kind of) with the lessons and do a project that has been shown that day. That is why I am posting two days in a row- shocking, I know…

On this card, the idea was to use cut out shapes. I am ashamed to say I had a set of Framelits from a 2 CHA’s ago that I had never used. So I cracked those babies open and had some fun.
  1. First I folded a card base made from my favorite Cougar 100 lb white cardstock. I ran it through the Big Shot using my Wreath Textured Impression folder (now available at your LSS!). I used a Robin’s Egg Color Box pigment pad and brayer to get a good overall coat of ink on one side of the folder. I folded over the other side and ran it through using the Multi-purpose Platform.
  2. I cut several Framelit openings- one circle in the center of the card and a larger frame from a piece of aqua. I added the aqua cutout behind the card. 
  3. Then I cut a white butterfly from the Birds and Butterflies Sizzlit set, flared the wings out a little and put a line of adhesive down the middle of the butterfly and centered it in the middle of the card.
  4. For the sentiment, I used the Daisies2Garden stamp set from The Stamps of Life. Inside it says… “a happy birthday”. You can always use a birthday card! I raised the inside of the sentiment on foam dots.
  5. I also used my Hydrangeas & Border die to add an aqua, white and aqua chevron pattern under the sentiment.

Let’s see how long I can keep the streak going… 🙂

Shower

This weekend, my daughters and I are hosting a baby shower for my other daughter. Here’s a pic of the invitations that I created using the Sizzix eclips. I drew an elephant in Illustrator and saved it as an .svg file, then cut it out on the eclips. The detailed cuts on this machine are unbelievable. Those little gray elephants are only about 1″ big! 

I curled the elephants’ ears out from their body to give a little dimension. This green shimmer paper is beautiful but almost too heavy. The ears did not roll back as smoothly as I would have liked and I think thinner cardstock would have worked better. But the color was not as good… so I chose color over weight…

I printed the card bases on the computer and then used the die cut elephants as accents. I also used the rickrack border from my Bigz Hydrangea & Border die coming in June from the Sweet Treats collection. Stay tuned for the rest of the decor- we were hard at work today… I am hoping it doesn’t rain Saturday (even though it’s a shower :-)).

Happy Anniversary!

It’s my daughter and SIL’s first anniversary. They are both officers in the Coast Guard and he is out at sea for sixty days. She is expecting at the end of June, and probably not for the first time, they had to spend a significant occasion apart. They have’t lived together yet because they are stationed four hours apart. Our military sacrifices a lot of things that most people take for granted and I am so proud of the way they are handling things.

  1. The card base is made from natural cardstock. I layered two pieces of pretty Basic Grey papers from the Picadilly collection on top and punched the bottom border with a Martha Stewart punch.
  2. The sentiment was embossed using my Textured Impressions Birthday, Thanks, and Congrats set on top of both layers and then I inked over it lightly in brown. 
  3. Flower Sizzlits (coming in June) called Sweet Treats for You and Birds and Butterflies were used to cut the flowers, leaves and swirls. 
  4. Pearl bling from Queen and Company and a piece of vintage mini-rickrack complete the card. 

Today is special. Happy Anniversary, Jess and Jason! We love you…

A Day Out…

On Tuesday I did something I should do more often.  One of my CHA Designer friends, Cheryl Boglioli, is teaching her way up the East Coast and Angela’s Happy Stamper was a stop on her route in nearby Reston VA. So I signed up for her class.


When I got there, I was happy to see the familiar faces of Kitty and Linda, who were also attending the class. Basically, it was a party just waiting to happen! 

Cheryl had everything organized for class and gave great tips and techniques for using Tattered Angels mists and Helmar glue on the Basic Grey canvas and papers. I loved the project that we made. Here’s how mine came out:
The time went by very quickly. There was a little excitement when Kitty dropped a very hot heat gun in the garbage can which resulted in a plastic coated heat gun and some toxic fumes.
But aside from that we behaved pretty well and all loved the new techniques we learned.

After class, Cheryl, Lorine Mason and I adjourned to Clyde’s and sat on the patio enjoying a leisurely lunch then topped the day off with a trip to Paper Source. It doesn’t get much better than that, folks! Do you take the time to recharge by spending time with creative friends? You need to…

Recycled Pencil Can

First Monday means that we’re hopping with the Designer Connection! Click on the blue logo in the sidebar to see what all of the other designers have created for spring!

Thanks to all the designers who participated in our Sizzix Spring Linky and also to those who visited and left your kind comments. I will be contacting the winner today and getting that Fringed Flower die out in the mail! 

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I have been getting into the recycling bag quite a bit lately. My husband deposits stuff and then I go dig it out. Today he came home with some solar lights for our driveway and I almost had a heart attack when I saw the plastic packaging it came in. You will see it in another form soon 🙂

So anyway, about the project… it’s simple, easy and inexpensive to make. That’s sure to be a winner, don’t you think? 

Here’s how:

  1. Assemble materials- soup can, string, Big Shot die-cut machine, Flowers, Layers #9 die, wool felt, large girls’s headband elastic, 2″ piece of pipe cleaner, mismatched earring, glue gun
  2. Clean out soup can. If you have one of those Pampered Chef can openers that roll the lid instead of leaving jaggedy edges, make sure to use it. Unfortunately I do not have one and proceeded to rip my finger open. 
  3. Dab a tiny bit of glue along the bottom edge of the can and place the end of the string over it anchoring it to the can. Wrap string around the entire can. Keep pushing down on the string so all areas of the can are covered. Dab another dot of glue at the top of the can to anchor the end of the string. (I thought the effect of the string on top of the ridges in the can was really cool. The thicker your yarn or wrapping material, the less you will notice the bumps though)
  4. Die cut two flowers from felt. Layer them in size order. Find a pierced earring in your jewelry box that you don’t want. Stick the post through all of the layers of the flower. Put earring back on behind the flower. 
  5. Double wrap the headband around the can and use the pipe cleaner piece to secure the headband to the earring. 
  6. Fill can with pencils and place on your desk for a fun touch of spring!

I’d also encourage you to stop by the ScrapScene blog today and take a look at the WIP Monday where you’ll see some inspiring Works in Progress!


Thanks for stopping by today.
Tip Junkie handmade projects

Sizzix Spring Linky

We had such fun doing the Sizzix Fresh Vintage blog hop last fall that we figured it was time for the Reunion Tour! So you are going to see some fun spring Sizzix projects from your favorite designers. Click on the links below to see what everyone is up to: 


I needed a spring wreath for my front door. I wrapped a 12″ STYROFOAM wreath with ribbon that I had gotten on a fun field trip to the ribbon outlet for $1 per bag. In my CHA sample making frenzy, I had amassed quite a collection of die cut Sizzix flowers made from fleece, felt, bubble wrap, paper, canvas and cotton fabrics. So I decided to add these to the wreath along with some leaves. I used a glue gun to adhere the flowers to the ribbon and added a ribbon hanger to the back. Simple, quick and in my favorite spring colors.

If you would like to enter to win the Fringed Flower die, please visit the designers’ blogs and leave them comments. If you feel so moved, please feel free to follow their blogs too. (who doesn’t like a little blog love?) Then come back here to let me know which is your favorite project. I will pick a winner on Thursday night.

What are you working on this time of year?